Increasing development density is not a universal panacea

The Housing White Paper's proposal to densify development reverses a direction set by the former government. Planning magazine reports that some experts welcome the flexibility of the approach.

The idea of encouraging density in a less prescriptive way than PPG3 has been warmly welcomed. Mike Kiely, Chair of the POS Board, told a Planning reporter the approach was "basically sensible ... as long as it's not one size fits all."

John Silvester, the Society's Communications Manager and former President, said " high density development at transport hubs can work well" citing examples at Woking station in Surrey and in major transport corridors in Stockholm. He added that each case needed to be considered on its merits as there was no single solution.